Light on my fishtank

leftymarine

I have a freshwater tank and was wondering does it matter if it the light is left on 24/7 in my tank or will this harm my fish. It is a 55 gallon tank, it has neons, barbs, and a couple of goldfish. I don't want to harm them.

Thank you for your help,

leftymarine43@yahoo.com

chadf

It won't harm them but may cause algae issues. I'm a salty though others will have more freshwater algae input.

andysutt

I personally turn my lights off when I go to bed and turn them back on during the day.

I have noticed a bit of algae starting to grow on my glass top since I leave them on most of the day.

Not a big deal, just remove them and clean it off once in a while with a wet washcloth.

tropical1

its not going to hurt anything, but willl cause excesive a;lgea growth. you shouldnt leave the light on more then 8 hous a day. personal experience here.

RustyNut

12hours a day is fine, more than that can cause algae problems... less is always better for controlling algae of course

Keep in mind that tropical zones have photo-periods between 12-14 hours a day as there is almost no seasonal change. Most of our aquarium plants and fish are adapted to this length photo-period and longer photo-periods can cause stress in many species.